Record Collector's Scores
- Music
For 1,895 reviews, this publication has graded:
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53% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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43% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1 point higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: | The Apple Drop | |
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Lowest review score: | 180 |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 1,239 out of 1895
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Mixed: 650 out of 1895
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Negative: 6 out of 1895
1895
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
Brothers & Sisters may also be the last recorded work of Mason’s friend and recurrent collaborator Martin Duffy – a fine way for him to finish, on an album full of intelligence and love.- Record Collector
- Posted Feb 28, 2023
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- Record Collector
- Posted Feb 28, 2023
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It’s an album of unlikely collaborations. Day One features the operatic talents of Dina Ipavic, while Are You Alive, sung by Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles, floats into moodier, more analog territory. Best of all are The New Abnormal (Golden Girls’ Kinetic turned inside out) and the anti-gammon state of the nation rant of Dirty Rats.- Record Collector
- Posted Feb 13, 2023
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End-times prophecies have always been a part of Gorillaz’s world view, but here Damon Albarn’s lyrics allude to personal burnout. There’s something poignant about hearing Stevie Nicks’ weathered voice twin itself to Albarn’s while singing about reaching a place “when you can’t help yourself anymore and the madness come”.- Record Collector
- Posted Feb 7, 2023
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Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997) serves the showman well, making this era sing, one of The Bootleg Series’ most intriguing investigations so far into Bob Dylan’s working practices and mindset.- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 31, 2023
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- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 30, 2023
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That Bad Reputation deep cut – as well as five better-known extras including a spine-tingling Still In Love With You not heard before – reminds us we are in what was, for so long, uncharted territory. ... Live and definitive!- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 20, 2023
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Cale remains the star of the show, however, still crafting richly textured songs that don’t always go where you might expect them to, and refusing to pander to expectations.- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 18, 2023
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This is a thoughtful, and thought-provoking, set of songs from a writer whose responses to the world around him illustrate an ever-deepening maturity, which is intriguing to chart across his four solo releases to date.- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 11, 2023
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Cacti might show Maries in survival mode, but revealing vulnerability has seen her songwriting soften and come into its own.- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 11, 2023
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Whether you prefer him pensive or primal, his 20th solo album brings that big time.- Record Collector
- Posted Jan 11, 2023
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The scattergun concept inevitably results in a broad range of styles and not all of them are entirely successful. ... Still, the above are minor quibbles, as the bulk of the album is a gorgeous concoction of disparate inspirations finding hitherto elusive homes. The guests get their works in progress nailed by an esteemed craftsman, while Rundgren himself, a man with a partial history of self-sufficiency bordering on the behaviour of a control freak, sounds reinvigorated by allowing others into his world.- Record Collector
- Posted Dec 19, 2022
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A cappella mixes of studio material have been a hallmark of every major Beach Boys box set, and those on Sail On Sailor deliver as expected. ... Further studio outtakes underscore the group’s range and versatility.- Record Collector
- Posted Dec 5, 2022
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And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow is a rich, nuanced and brilliant reflection of a world in turmoil.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 30, 2022
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Those lyrics [from previously unreleased demo, Tired Of My Life], slightly tweaked, would also make the final It’s No Game; that they date to this period of self-doubt and self-discovery and ended up bookending one of the greatest decade-long streaks in music is revelatory. Demos of Hunky Dory standouts have fewer surprises: written during a spate of fevered creativity in Haddon Hall, his boho Beckenham pile, everything is all but there, a few lyrical improvements aside.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 23, 2022
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While it’s certainly not as upbeat as 2020’s Gold Record, the directness cuts through in a way that 2019’s Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest didn’t. It’s an album that finds Callahan in great form.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 9, 2022
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The kids aren’t alright as decades get mashed; conspiracy theories and misanthropy, leavened with wit, abound. A fantastic record. You auteur hear this.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 9, 2022
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It’s hands down the band’s most powerful and compelling musical statement to date; a vivid snapshot of an important inflection point in their career trajectory.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 7, 2022
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- Critic Score
The Car is a slick mover, immaculately appointed and often beautiful. What it’s driving at, though, can feel naggingly elusive.- Record Collector
- Posted Nov 7, 2022
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Sorrows Away is a landmark album by an extraordinary band, full of brutal truths, hope, and moments of musical transcendence that will resonate for generations to come.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 18, 2022
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From heavy skiffle to serpent gods to ponderings on Pacino, noir and mortality, this charms and challenges.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 17, 2022
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Stumpwork demonstrates that the Dry Cleaning business is going from strength to strength.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 17, 2022
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- Critic Score
After a handful of stirring ballads set to create further communal festival experiences, Here Is Everything peaks with Magic, golden funk worthy of Odelay-era Beck. The album cover depicts singer Jules Jackson during her pregnancy: her band have given birth to something magical here.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 12, 2022
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- Critic Score
Heaton remains the go-to chronicler of the Everyman condition, but let’s not underplay Abbott’s vital contribution as both equal-billing foil and relatable conduit of female perspectives in these songs. Plays not just for today, but for weeks, months and years to come.- Record Collector
- Posted Oct 4, 2022
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An album that taps into Suede’s galvanic guitar-rock drama without falling prey to that dread declaration of stagnation, the back-to-basics album. Perhaps deceptively, Suede’s approach here is forward-thinking.- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 14, 2022
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- Record Collector
- Posted Sep 13, 2022
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The contents, which comprise the first volume of the Lou Reed Archival Series, are of enormous cultural significance – fascinating, extraordinary, at times revelatory.- Record Collector
- Posted Aug 26, 2022
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First single Town And Country is a band-backed hymn to city-loving Wainwright’s current lifestyle that adds a touch of rock’n’roll pizzazz to proceedings.- Record Collector
- Posted Aug 17, 2022
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It is a warm and free record, benefitting from the improvised jam sessions that took place on both US coasts in Brooklyn and Burbank. You can feel the sense of openness at either end of Heartmind’s musical spectrum.- Record Collector
- Posted Aug 15, 2022
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Reset takes shape as a tribute to the consolatory powers of music and companionship, brimming with convivial charm and inner-voyage invention.- Record Collector
- Posted Aug 11, 2022
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